Caught one of the final theatrical showings of All Is Lost here on Thanksgiving evening – tiny room, but that didn’t matter once the show began. And I was thrown for a minute when I realized we were watching an actual 35mm print – scratches, dust and all – and not a digital presentation. That is old school!

My brothers and I – while staying in nearby Cascade on a family vacation – attended a showing of Dudley Moore’s dreadful comedy “Wholly Moses” at this tiny theatre circa 1980. My memories are dim, but the theatre seemed like a fairly new venue at the time.

Despite Landmark’s branding as an “art house” chain, the Olde Town’s bookings have remained resolutely mainstream. One constant since the theatre’s opening: the cool, giant-sized photos of early day Arvada in the lobby, a nice local touch!

Responding to Scottneff query: The Commonwealth, and then the UA city offices were at the Continental Theatre. The UA corporate headquarters were in Englewood/DTC, not a mile or so from the Greenwood Plaza. The corporate hq building currently houses National Cinemedia (co-owned by Regal, who bought UA).

Opened as a newly constructed venue in the mid-1990s as part of the multi-state Super Saver Cinemas chain. At some point it became Silver Cinemas, and finally the locally-owned (Littleton, CO – based) Elvis Cinemas, which took over the three Super Saver venues in the Denver metro area.

Follow this link to a site about 70mm projectors. Scroll to the bottom to view a photo of projectionist John Templeton posing with two behemoth DP70 projectors in the North Star Drive-In booth:
http://www.in70mm.com/dp70/country/usa/colorado/index.htm

I worked for the Sattellite Theatre Network, a project begun by UA Theatres in the 1990s. The Greenwood Plaza was our laboratory as well. The first digital projector in a Denver theatre was installed here – you can catch a glimpse of it in this video shot in the Greenwood projection booth in the mid-1990s: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vImi-neXo4I

I have a photo of the old drive-in mentioned in the Stan Malone comment from 2005 above. The shot was taken in 1994, and the concession stand is occupied by a horse. How do we get a new entry listed for that venue?

How things continue to change…while the theater looks the same in those recent shots vs mine from 1995, the neighborhood around it has grown. In the 1995 shot, you can see a small older building next to the theater; the more recent shots, that structure is gone and something much bigger has replaced it.
1995: View link